Two teenage sisters were found hanging from a tree in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in a suspected case of kidnapping and rape.
Police said the bodies were found Wednesday afternoon in the Lakhimpur district. They launched an investigation after the family alleged that the girls had been kidnapped and raped.
Six men have been arrested on charges of rape and murder. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem examination, police said.
Girls under 18 belonged to the Dalit caste at the base of a profoundly discriminatory Hindu hierarchy.
Despite constitutional protections, the community routinely faces prejudice and violence: A 2020 case involving the gang rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in the Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh sparked a public outcry, highlighting how vulnerable Dalit women were.
This case too has triggered protests by locals and opposition parties.
Local media reported that the girl’s mother said men on motorcycles had taken the pair. She says she was attacked when she tried to stop them.
The family said they began looking for the girls and eventually found them hanging from a tree.
District police chief Sanjeev Suman said the girls were taken to a sugarcane field where they were strangled to death.
“The accused then hanged their bodies from the tree to make it look like suicide,” Mr Suman added, according to NDTV channel.
According to local media, the police met with some resistance when they went to the girls’ home on Wednesday night, where locals had joined the family in protest.
There is a deep suspicion of the police among the Dalit community. Authorities were accused of apathy and protecting the upper caste after the assault in Hathras. The victim’s family also alleged that she had been cremated forcibly without giving them a chance to say goodbye.
Uttar Pradesh, in India’s north, is the country’s most populated state with over 200 million people – and has a record of violence against women and Dalits. The recent death of two sisters has provoked anger against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, with opposition leaders accusing him of running a lawless government.
“In Yogi government, goons are harassing mothers and sisters every day, very shameful. The government should investigate the matter; the culprits should get the harshest punishment,” Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party wrote on Twitter.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said that criminals in Uttar Pradesh had no fear because the government’s “priorities are wrong”.
Priyanka Gandhi from the Congress party also attacked Mr Adityanath and said that “giving false advertisements in newspapers and TV does not improve law and order”.
“After all, why are heinous crimes against women increasing in UP?” she asked.